An Investigation of the Laws of Thought
On Which Are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities

Mathematician George Boole's An Investigation of the Laws of Thought is considered to be a seminal work on algebraic logic.

George Boole (Author)

9781108001533, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 July 2009

440 pages
21.6 x 14 x 2.5 cm, 0.56 kg

Self-taught mathematician and father of Boolean algebra, George Boole (1815–1864) published An Investigation of the Laws of Thought in 1854. In this highly original investigation of the fundamental laws of human reasoning, a sequel to ideas he had explored in earlier writings, Boole uses the symbolic language of mathematics to establish a method to examine the nature of the human mind using logic and the theory of probabilities. Boole considers language not just as a mode of expression, but as a system one can use to understand the human mind. In the first 12 chapters, he sets down the rules necessary to represent logic in this unique way. Then he analyses a variety of arguments and propositions of various writers from Aristotle to Spinoza. One of history's most insightful mathematicians, Boole is compelling reading for today's student of intellectual history and the science of the mind.

1. Nature and design of this work
2. Signs and their laws
3. Derivation of the laws
4. Division of propositions
5. Principles of symbolic reasoning
6. Of interpretation
7. Of elimination
8. Of reduction
9. Methods of abbreviation
10. Conditions of a perfect method
11. Of secondary propositions
12. Methods in secondary propositions
13. Clarke and Spinoza
14. Examples of analysis
15. Of the Aristotelian logic
16. Of the theory of probabilities
17. General method in probabilities
18. Elementary illustrations
19. Of statistical conditions
20. Problems on causes
21. Probability of judgements
22. Constitution of the intellect.

Subject Areas: Mathematics [PB]